Monday, May 20, 2013

Australians travelling to the Middle East could need a health check when they return if infections caused by a SARS-like virus continue to rise, a WA disease expert warns.

Curtin University professor of health science Charles Watson said a new viral agent from the same family of viruses that caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome 10 years ago had emerged in the Middle East a few months ago and recently spread to Europe.

By this week, 41 cases of the coronavirus, known as London1 novel CoV 2012, had been reported and half the patients had died.